gulab khandelwal selected poems

WHEN THERE WAS NOTHING

When there was nothing, what was there?
Where was Space? Where was Time?

In what valleys of non-existence did I roam then?
Where were the unevolved elements ?
Where was unborn consciousness?

In that timeless infinity,
When there was neither subject nor object,
Seer nor seen,
When innumerable universes centered in a point
Were lost in the great void.
When the blue sky was not there
And the drawing of the stars
Was nowhere to be found,
What unknown power had then
Imagined of this creation?

O father! where were you sleeping
In that dark night of forgetfulness?
Was I also lying then,
Somewhere in your consciousness
Like an unknown dream?

When without any name or form,
You were lost in the void of non-existence,
Where was this Nature? In what form was my ego?

I feel that even then my love was awake.
Weeping profusely,
It was demanding existence from you.

It was that love alone
That brought you near my mother,
It was only due to that, light smiled in darkness.

Millions of universes burst forth then
From the womb of the great void;
Countless dormant springs of power were released
From every atom.

Although, every atom was powerless,
Being subject to its own laws,
You, the mover of all,
Were entirely independent then,
And are entirely independent now.

It is true,
Eternal mother Nature is subject to your rules,
And has to bear the torturous burden of my tears
Sometimes,
But she knows, you are always protecting me.

Whenever my anguish,
Rising from the depths of my heart,
Reaches you,
Transgressing all your rules and laws,
You always come down to save me.